Zurich-based ABB to offer solutions for Indian Smart Cities

ABB, an MNC firm based in Zurich, is looking for opportunities so that it can deploy its solutions like smart grids to resource management (water and electricity), apart from transportation.

“A smart city is a very holistic concept. We can contribute when it comes to energy efficiency, and mobility,” Tarak Mehta, Global Head of Smart Cities Business, ABB Ltd, said.

He added, “In India, the company can offer solutions for power quality. The solution depends on the application and the quality of power a city needs.”

“We have UPS that ensure uninterruptible power, compensation systems, harmonic filtering solutions, among others,” he said.

Mobility is another area where the firm plans to implement its solutions. “We can offer eco-friendly hybrid electrical vehicles with the entire electrical infrastructure for e-mobility. We have done this across Norway. We have a huge contract in China,” Mehta has said.

The company has deployed various solutions in smart cities worldwide. It offers city wide wi-fi network called Troops in Venice, Electric buses in Geneva, Luxembourg, rural smart grid in Sweden and smart grid solutions in Oklahoma and Houston. Besides facilitating district cooling on a mass scale in Singapore, it has also deployed waste-to-energy solution in Lisbon, Portugal.

In August this year, the Centre had announced the list of 98 shortlisted smart city aspirants. These cities are currently preparing smart city proposals that will be judged by the Centre on credibility of implementation, city vision and strategy, economic and environmental impacts, cost effectiveness, innovation and scalability, citizen implementation, etc.

Top 20 scoring cities will be chosen by December and Rs 200 crore per city will be provided by the Centre in the first year, followed by Rs 100 crore each year for the next three years.

Talking about the scale of the business opportunity for the company with respect to India’s smart cities, Mehta said, “ Based on the funding, one can estimate the business opportunity. Once the city Mayor knows their budget, then we can discuss the solutions under their budget. It will be a city by city process, depending on each city’s priority.”